Dark Ages
, , | released = October 4, 2005 | label = Roadrunner | recorded = Serbia, Turkey, Russia, France, and the United States | producers = Max Cavalera | singles = "Carved Inside" "Frontlines" | prev_album = Prophecy (album) Prophecy | next_album = Conquer | alt_cover = anti-Dark Ages.jpg | caption = Limited Edition Digipak cover }} Dark Ages is the fifth Soulfly album, released in 2005. Tragic deaths and recording In December 2004, when writing for the fifth album just about to be started, two deaths struck Max Cavalera's family. His 8-month old grandson, Moses, died of health complications. Two days later, his close friend, , was shot to death onstage. These two tragedies lead him to write dark lyrics for their next album instead. The album was recorded in five countries – Serbia, Turkey, Russia, France, and the United States. Release and promotion Dark Ages was released on October 4, 2005, more than a month after devastated New Orleans, LA. The album had the lowest peak on the US of any Soulfly album at the time and since, peaking at #155, possibly due to a lot of fans not wanting Soulfly to go dark. Style Hence the album title, Dark Ages explores aggression and dark themes to mourn two deaths ten months before it was released. Cavalera praised this album by calling it "unorthodox metal." The album is criticized for containing a lot of influences, making it heavier than any Soulfly album before it. Title and artwork Since Max Cavalera was writing and composing dark lyrics and music, he wanted to include the word 'dark' in its album title to go along with it, then he quickly came up with 'Dark Ages'. The album artwork shows only two colors, black and white, and prominently shows a Babylonian spiritual being. The limited edition digipak cover is simply switching colors from the standard. Dark Ages is the only Soulfly album except for 3 in which the title contains more than one word. But due to the album artwork, some fans prefer Babylon as the one-word title of this album over Dark Ages. Songs The album opens with an intro track "The Dark Ages", which continues into "Babylon", which explores worldwide chaos. "Arise Again" combines -like riffs and Sepultura-like echoes. "Corrosion Creeps" is dedicated to of . "Fuel the Hate" begins with the lyric line 'Monday, July 16, 1945, 5:30am', exact time and date when occurred. It was around this time that the lyrical themes began to move away from the earlier spiritual themes and began incorporating more violent and aggressive elements. Richie Cavalera, Max's son, co-sings on "Staystrong" as a tribute to youthful deaths of Moses and Dana. The outro for "Bleak" was recorded in an ancient temple in Istanbul to capture echoes to include as common sound effect on this album. "Molotov" lyrics are in Russian, Portuguese, and a final verse in English. The performance of , one of two guests for "Molotov", was recorded over the phone by Max. "Riotstarter" contains strong tribal chants, and "Innerspirit" blends clean and melodic vocals by the guest over the roars by Cavalera. Reviews had a positive response, because the album has greater complexity of metal than any of the previous album, thus refreshing the band with veterans present. had a very good response, as "Cavalera is screaming louder and harder than ever throughout. He’s raging harder and in a higher range than he’s been in years, and it’s a welcome improvement." Links to review sites * Allmusic (4/5) * Alternative-Zine.com * Amazon (4.4/5) * APESHIT * Blogcritics (9/10) * Chronicles of Chaos (8.5/10) * [http://www.epinions.com/review/Dark_Ages_by_Soulfly_epi/content_607803510404 Epinions] (5/5) * [http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/soulfly-dark_ages Exclaim!] * The Metal Observer (8/10) * Metal Rage (89/100) * Metal-Temple.com (7/10) * musicOMH * Rate Your Music (3.47/5) * Sea of Tranquility (4/5) * Ultimate-Guitar (8.4/10) Track listing # "The Dark Ages" – 0:47 # "Babylon" – 3:53 # "I and I" – 3:15 # "Carved Inside" – 3:35 # "Arise Again" – 4:10 # "Molotov" – 1:57 # "Frontlines" – 4:34 # "Innerspirit" – 5:15 # "Corrosion Creeps" – 4:26 # "Riotstarter" – 4:59 # "Bleak" – 4:56 # "(The) March" – 1:18 # "Fuel the Hate" – 4:12 # "Staystrong" – 8:13 # "Soulfly V" – 10:50 ;Japanese & Limited Edition bonus tracks 16. "Salmo-91" – 4:22 17. "Prophecy" – 3:27 18. "Seek ‘n’ Strike" – 4:15 ;Digital special edition bonus tracks 16. "Salmo-91" – 4:22 17. "Back to the Primitive" – 4:09 18. "No Hope = No Fear" – 4:21 19. "Spit" cover) (Live 2001)}} – 2:31 Credits ;Soulfly *Max Cavalera – lead vocals, 4-string guitar, , * – guitar, * – bass guitar * – drums, percussion ;Additional musicians * – vocals on "Innerspirit" *Pavel Fillipenko – vocals on "Molotov" * – vocals on "Molotov" * – bass guitar on "Riotstarter" *Richie Cavalera – vocals on "Staystrong" *Stefane Goldman – sitar, , , keyboards *Alexander Yushin – *Alexsander Hrenov – , wooden , *Vitaly Hrenov – *John Gray – synth production ;Production *Max Cavalera – production *John Gray – recording, engineering, digital editing, mixing on "Molotov" and "(The) March", additional mixing on "Soulfly V" *John Bilberry – assistant engineering *Matt Marksbary – assistant engineering *Justin Salter – assistant engineering * – mixing *June Murakawa – assisting *Milan "Bare" Barković – engineering *Alexkid – engineering *Darya Jubenko – engineering *Gloria Cavalera – executive production *Ted Jensen – mastering *Monte Conner – A&R ;Management *Gloria Cavalera – management *Christina Stojanovic – management ;Artwork *Michael Whelan – illustrations *Mr. Scott Design – art direction *Leo Zuletta – Soulfly logo Charts Category:Albums